Ball State University Athletics
Jim Molinari Named Head Coach At Western Illinois
April 11, 2008 | Men's Basketball
MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois University Director of Athletics Dr. Tim Van Alstine has announced the hiring of Jim Molinari as head men's basketball coach. Molinari, the 19th head coach in school history and the fourth in Western's Division I era, replaces Derek Thomas, who resigned March 11 after five seasons.
“Coach Molinari provides instant credibility in the region, in the state and also on a national basis,” said Van Alstine. “His educational background is exactly what we need. It mirrors our core value of educational excellence and we are very excited to have him on board. More so than anything, Jim brings confidence to our program. He has confidence in the university, he has confidence in the administration, and more importantly he has confidence in our student-athletes. The primary thing that separated him is that he knows that he can win here at Western Illinois University.”
Molinari brings 28 years of NCAA Division I coaching experience to the Leathernecks, compiling a 223-186 (.545) career record in 14 years as a head coach. He served last season as an assistant coach at Ball State, following a three-year stint at Minnesota in which he was the interim head coach for most of the 2006-07 season. Throughout his career he has appeared in 19 postseason tournaments, including seven as a head coach.
“This is the right fit,” said Molinari. “Everyone I met has been open with me. I'm so excited and I have to battle the overwhelming feeling. The real excitement will come when you get in the middle of it all. It just feels right. I have called timeouts in the first four minutes of games when we're up 6-2 if things don't feel right, but this feels right.”
In his first season as an assistant at Minnesota, his defensive emphasis helped the Gophers rank third in Big Ten scoring defense (62.7 points per game), just a half-point behind Michigan State and two points behind Illinois. They led the league in field goal percentage defense (.424) and three-point field goal percentage defense (.274) in conference play, and allowed 62.9 points per league game, the fewest since the 1981-82 season. In 2005, Street & Smith's named Molinari the “best assistant in the Big Ten Conference.”
For 11 seasons, from 1991-2002, Molinari was the head coach at Bradley University, where he amassed a 174-152 (.534) record and guided the Braves to the postseason six times - five National Invitation Tournament appearances and the 1996 NCAA Tournament. Molinari's 110 Missouri Valley wins rank sixth-best all-time in league history and his 174 total wins while at Bradley rank 10th-best all-time. He ranks No. 4 on the Bradley all-time wins list and had a 4-6 record in post-season play (0-1 in the NCAA and 4-5 in the NIT). During one eight-year span he led Bradley to post-season play six times, including four consecutive years from 1994-97.
From 1989-91, he was the head coach at Northern Illinois, where he posted a record of 42-17 (.712). The Huskies won the 1991 Mid-Continent Conference title, going 25-6 and setting a school record for wins.
At DePaul from 1979-89, Molinari helped both Ray and Joey Meyer return the Blue Demons to national prominence. Over 10 seasons at DePaul, Molinari helped recruit college and professional stars such as Mark Aguirre, Dallas Comegys, Tyrone Corbin, Terry Cummings and Rod Strickland -- players who led DePaul to nine NCAA Tournaments and a runner-up finish in the NIT.
A Defensive Mindset That Turns Programs Around
A two-time conference coach of the year -- 1991 Mid-Continent Conference at Northern Illinois and 1996 Missouri Valley Conference at Bradley -- Molinari's coaching success was built on defense. While averaging better than 17 wins per season, Molinari's first 12 teams finished among the nation's top 24 defensive squads 10 times.
In his two years at NIU, his teams finished fifth and second, respectively, in team defense on the national level. In his first nine years at Bradley, the Braves placed among the nation's leaders in all but two seasons for either fewest points allowed per game or field goal percentage allowed.
Molinari inherited a Northern Illinois program that had not won 17 games in a season since 1981, but made a quick turnaround with a 17-win season in his first year, followed by a 25-win campaign. At Bradley, he took over a program that managed just a 32-54 mark in the three previous years. He needed just two years to right the ship before beginning a three-year stretch of 20-win seasons, which included two trips to the NIT and one to the NCAA Tournament. When he left Bradley, he had amassed more league wins than any other active coach in the Missouri Valley.
Academic Focus
Molinari has graduated nearly 90 percent of his student-athletes during his head coaching career, and while at Bradley, 24 out of 26 senior student-athletes received their degrees. Molinari earned his bachelor's degree in English from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1977 and earned a Juris Doctor from DePaul in 1980.
As a Player
His college basketball playing career began at Kansas State, where he teamed with current UNLV head coach Lon Kruger for two seasons. After transferring to Illinois Wesleyan, where he teamed with former NBA center Jack Sikma, Molinari helped the Titans win consecutive league titles, before entering the coaching profession in 1978 as a part-time assistant with DePaul.
Additional Coaching Opportunities
In addition to his collegiate coaching experience, Molinari is a veteran of national selection committees for international competition. He led the 1997 USA Basketball men's team to a gold medal at the World University Games played in Trapani, Italy.
For two years in-between collegiate coaching positions, Molinari was an NBA scout for the Toronto Raptors (2002-03) and Miami Heat (2003-04).
